Saturday, October 1, 2011

Orange Blog Hop

Hello, I hope that you are enjoying the Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop. If you have just come from Lisa's Scrap Site you are in the right place. This is a stop on the Orange Blog Hop where members of Fiskateers, a community sponsored by Fiskars, is sharing their passion for crafting.

If you get lost along the way or would like to start at the beginning of the hop or see the list of blogs participating in the hop, you can do so at the Fiskateers Blog.

After you are finished here, the next stop on the Orange Blog Hop is “the crafty neighbor”. I'm sure that you'll enjoy her creative ideas.

I am a huge fan of the Fiskateers and have been ever since discovering their blog/message board in April 2007. I really enjoy participating in their online crops, challenges as well as the day to day posts.

Last week I received the new Fiskars “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch that I won in the Liftateers Liftoff Online Crop. I thought that it would be perfect for a challenge that Cheryl (a Lead Fiskateer) recently posted on the blog. Her challenge was “to use one of your punches in a unique way . . . brand new to you.”

For Cheryl’s challenge, I used the “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch, Limited Edition “What a Nut” Squeeze Punch, Limited Edition “Strong as an Oak” and the Med Round n’ Round Squeeze Punch to make these two little “love nuts”. I saved the little pieces from the Fall Gatherings Border Punch & used them to decorate the “hats” and the border. The verse is part of a stamp (it also had a squirrel on it) that I got from Michael’s a few years ago. The faces were hand drawn. This is a new way of using my punches as normally I would toss the little pieces from the border punch away.

While I had my punches out, I also made another fall card using the “Fall Gatherings” Border Punch, Limited Edition “What a Nut” Squeeze Punch, Limited Edition “Strong as an Oak” and the Med Round n’ Round Squeeze Punch. I also used the same stamped verse.

Then I decided that I needed a card with a squirrel on it. I used the squirrel from my USX Shape Template “Woodland Trees” and cut it out of gray cardstock. I added a shimmer chalk to it to give it some additional color. The squirrel was mounted on the punched out mat from the Fiskars “Dancing Daisy” circle border punch. I also used the same punches used in the previous two cards.

I love how you can use the same punches and come up with so many different card ideas.

One of the challenges in the Liftoff Crop Sandy Fiskateer #1781 was “Lift a Lead”. Sandy chose a card that Tami made using an old map and page from an old math book. Instead of making a card, Sandy made a “Junque Journal”. I was inspired by Sandy’s idea of creating a junque journal for myself. Although I didn’t get it done for the challenge, I finally finished making one of my own. It’s definitely a neat idea & it is going to be a fun way to keep track of all my 2011 “junque”.

I used lots of bling on this junque journal. The letters are SU chipboard that I painted white & then went over top with a shimmery opal paint. I used Glossy Accents to glue them down. I also punched out the angel wings from the Fiskars Limited Edition "Love Takes Flight" Squeeze Punch and added them on either side of the letter "O". I also added some stickles to the edges of the wings as well as to the flowers. The flowers are a SU stamp that I watercolored & cut out. I also used the MS Butterfly punch & added some stickles to it.

I hope that you've enjoyed this stop on the Orange Blog Hop and have been inspired in some way. Don't forget, the next stop on the Orange Blog Hop is “the crafty neighbor”.